Hinge



K G. H. MURRlN HINGE "Dem lo; 1.

' Original Filed sept. 26, 193s y /NVENTo/a Patented Dec. 10, 1940 "TENTFFHCE nmol;v

Gahlbeth H. Mnrrin, Fullerton, Calif., assigner' to Martha W. Murrin,Fullerton, Calif.

Application September 26, 1938, Serial No. 231,733 Renewed April 24;,134i) 7 Claims.

This invention relates generally to closures, and more particularly tohinges for refrigerator and other doors.

An object of the invention is to provide a hinge which is structurallycharacterized by its selfclosing feature, the mechanism for which isextremely simple, durable, positive in action, and entirely concealedfrom view by its ingenious association with a sectional housing, thesections of which are correlated, respectively, with the jamb andclosure members of the hinge in a manner to co-act in forming anunbroken streamlined housing for said mechamsm in the closed position ofa door, and to move relatively in response to opening of the door, in amanner to overlap and maintain said mechanism concealed.

With these and other' objects in view,the invention resides in thecombinations and ,arrangements of elements as set forth in the followingspecication and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure l is a view of the hinge in front elevation;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hinge taken on the line2 2 of Figure 1, and illustrating the position of the hinge when thedoor to which it is applied is closed;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 andillustrating the positionoccupied by the parts of the hinge when the door occupies a ninetydegree open position;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional View taken on the line 4-4 of Figure1;

Figure 5 is a view ofthe hinge in side elevation.

Referring specifically to the drawing, the invention comprises-jambandclosure members Il) and II, respectively, the former having a pad I2provided with openings through which screws I3 are passed to secure suchmember to a door jamb or refrigerator box I4. The member is furtherprovided with two relatively widely spaced ears I5 having alined boresI6 receiving a hinge pin Il also passing through alined openings inspaced sleeves I8 projecting from one end of the leaf I9 of the memberII.

The leaf I9 is provided with openings receiving screws 20 by which'themember II is secured to the door 2l of the refrigerator or otherstructure, whereby to hingedly mount the door on the jamb I4.

Projecting from the jamb member I intermediate the ears I is an ear 22through which passes a pivot pin 23 also passing through alined openingsin spaced sleeves 24 on a lever including (Cl. 16m-199) a section 25of'a two-part housing 26, the other section 21 of which is formed on theleaf I9 of the member It. The housing sections are in abuttingrelationship, and their confronting surfaces 22 and 29, respectively,are flush exteriorly are obliquely related so as to form a smoothstreamlined housing when the door is closed, for a spring mechanismwhich urges the door to closed position.

This spring mechanism comprises a compression coil spring 30 mounted ona pin 3i anchored at one end to the housing section 25 in an abutmentlug 32 therein and passing freely at its other end through an opening 33in a second abutment in the form of a transverse partition 3d in thesection 2l of the housing 29. As clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3, theends of the spring 3i! respectively'abut the lug 32 and the partition 3dso that the force exerted by the spring will be along the line a-a inFigure 2f, for co-action of the spring with the lug and partition, inurging the hinge member II to the closed position of the door 2! shownin this figure.

In the operation of the invention, opening movement of the door 2i willshorten the distance between the partition 301 and lug 32 so as tocornpress and thus further load the spring 30. Upon initiating thisopening movement, the flush joint between the confronting surfaces 28and 29 will be broken, and the housing section 25 will swing outwardlyabout the Aaxis of the'pin 23 sufficiently to permit it to overlap thesection 2l while maintaining the spring mechanism entirely concealed.

It will be noted that the line of force a-a passes close to the axis ofthe pin 23 toform a relatively short lever arm, and is a considerablygreater distance from the axis Il so as to form a longer lever armtherewith, which increases as the door is opened, to the end that thespring will constantly act proportionately to close the door from theninety degree open position thereof shown in Figure 3.

It will be appreciated that by the novel arrangement of parts abovedescribed, the exterior appearance of the hinge will in no way bedetracted from by the spring mechanism, and that in the normal closedposition of the door, the mechanism will be completely enclosed in ahousing made up of sections correlated in such manner with the aboverecited lever arms to provide a smooth and unbroken exterior at thejoint therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. A hinge comprising a jamb member; a door member mounted on the jambmember for hinging movement; means co-acting with said members to urgethem relatively to a closed position of a door; and means on saidmembers co-acting to define a sectional housing for the rst means,enclosing the latter and forming an unbroken joint between the sectionswhen said members occupy the aforestated urged position.

2. An hinge comprising a jamb member; a door member mounted on the jambmember for hinging movement; means co-acting with said members to urgethem relatively to a closed position of a door; said door member beingformed to provide a housing section for said urging means; and meanspivotally mounted on said jamb member and deiining a lever arm withwhich said urging means co-acts in its urging function; the last meansbeing formed to define a second housing section co-acting with the:first mentioned housing section to define an externally smooth andflush jointed housing enclosing said urging means when said membersoccupy the aforestated urged position.

3. A hinge comprising a jamb member; a door member defining a lever armmounted on the jamb member for hinging movement; a member dening asecond lever arm and pivotally mounted on the jamb member eccentricallyof the door member; means co-acting with the last mentioned member andthe door member to urge the latter and jamb member relatively to aclosed position of a door; and means on the door member and said lastmentioned member co-acting to form a sectional housing, the sections ofwhich enclose said urging means and have an externally smooth andunbroken appearance when the members occupy the aforestated urgedposition.

4. A hinge comprising a jamb member; a door member dening a lever armmounted on the jamb member for hinging movement; -a member defining asecond lever arm and pivotally mounted on the jamb member eccentricallyof the door member; a pin anchored rigidly to the last said member andhaving an axially slidable operative connection with the door member; acompression spring mounted on said pin and co-acting with the last saidmember and the door member to urge the latter and the jamb memberrelatively to a closed position of a door; and means on said last memberand door member co-acting to dene a flush jointed sectional housingenclosingthe member; the last said member having an abutment; a pinanchored rigidly at one end in said abutment; the door member having anabutment provided with an opening through which the other end of saidpin is freely guided; a compression spring mounted on said pin andengaging said abutments for co-action therewith in urging the door andjamb members relatively to a closed position of a door; and means onsaid last member and door member co-acting to dei-lne a sectionalhousing the sections of which enclose the pin and spring and form anunbroken joint in the aforestated closed position of the jamb and doormembers.

6. A hinge comprising a jamb member; a door member defining a lever armmounted on the jamb member for hinging movement; a member dening asecond lever arm and pivotally mounted on the jamb member eccentricallyof the door member; the last said member having 4an abutment; a pinanchored rigidly at one end in said abutment; the door member having anabutment provided with an opening through which the other end of saidpin is freely guided; .a compression spring mounted on said pin andengaging said abutments for co-action therewith in urging the door andjamb members relatively to a closed position of a door; said last memberand door member being shaped to form sections of a housing enclosing thepin and spring and having obliquely disposed surfaces which abut in theaforestated closed position of the jamb and door members, to provide anexternally smooth joint between the sections.

7. A hinge comprising a jamb member; a door member deiining a lever armmounted on the jamb member for hinging movement; a member defining asecond lever arm and pivotally mounted on the jamb member eccentricallyof the door member; the last said member having an abutment; a pinanchored rigidly at one end in said abutment; the door member having anabutment provided with an opening through which the other end of saidpin is freely guided; a compression spring mounted on said pin andengaging said abutments for co-action therewith in urging the door andjamb members relatively to a closed position of a door; saidglast memberand door member being shaped to form sections of a housing enclosing thepin and spring and having obliquely disposed surfaces which abut in theaforestatedl closed position of `the jamb and door members, to providean externally smooth joint between the sections, the Obliquity of saidsurfaces being such as to permit the housing section of the last saidmember toride upon and overlap the housing section of the door memberwhen moved from the aforestated closed position.

GAHLBETH H. 'MURRIN

